Behind the Ice Queen
by QueenLavenderEyes
Summary: Why is Raydor so cold...?
1. Chapter 1

Behind the Ice Queen

"What!"

Everyone jumped at the sound of Sharon Raydor's yell from her office. The major crimes squad in particular spun around trying to figure out what was happening but the only thing that they could see was Assistant Chief Taylor gesturing while he spoke to the Captain.

As Captain Raydor got up and walked to the door the team straighten up and tried to look busy. But as the door opened everyone could hear Provenza say "This is going to be interesting…".

The glare on Raydor's face was enough silence any other comments that were about to be made.

"Everyone listen up. Apparently Assistant Chief Taylor has decided that there is not enough teamwork between all of us so he's making us do a team building exercise".

This didn't go down well with the team as everyone started to protest but the death glare that Raydor sent them shut everyone up again.

"This exercise will happen this Saturday starting at eight a.m. The entire team will be spending the day together, along with any family that wishes to join us, doing anything that we wish. Please let me know if any of your family members wish to join us". At the last word Captain Raydor stormed off while the team started to talk.

_Saturday eight a.m._

The team had decided that if they had to spend time together then they might as well get some enjoyment out of it. So they decided to meet in front of a nearby mall since most of the group had things to pick up. At exactly eight the team saw Raydor's car parking and they watched her get out of the car. The team wasn't surprised to Rusty get out as well but they were shocked to see two strangers do so as well. The man and woman were obviously related to each other but took a moment for anyone to realize that these were Captain Raydor's children. Tao was the first one to break the silence when the four people caught up to the group.

"Hello. I'm Tao and I'm guessing that you two are Captain Raydor's children?".

Both of the strangers nodded as Raydor introduced them. "This is James and Elana. Rusty and I were supposed to spend the day with them but since we had this exercise they decided to come along." Raydor turned to her children. "And this is of course the major crimes squad".

After shaking hands with each other the group decided to head into the mall.

At first the group just wandered aimlessly while not talking but as they passed a cd store James called the group back. "Since We're here I'd like to go in and look for a cd that just came out. Is that alright with everyone?". Once everyone agreed the group went into the store but they started to spread out as soon as they entered. Buzz headed to the rock section and was surprised to see Raydor heading that way as well. He picked up a cd from an artist that he didn't know and was looking at the back when he heard Raydor's voice beside him.

"That's not a bad cd. I'd recommend 'Pour some sugar on me' in particular off of that one." Buzz just looked at the cd and asked her if she liked this type of music. Raydor was about to answer when they heard Elana talking to them from a few feet away.

"Mom likes almost every type of music except for rap. You should see her cd collection at home". Elana, James, and Rusty laughed but Sykes just looked a bit confused. "Really? I always figured her for more of a classical music type myself".

"She listens to that as well" James said as he looked at Sykes" But most of her favorites are not classical. Like the song 'All I wanna do' by Heart. She likes that song. We used to have fun with her about that because she wouldn't let us listen to it when we were kids. Not that she can stop us now since we're adults".

The teasing of her kids made Rayor smile as she said "You are not adults. To me you are still a couple of ten year olds and I refuse to believe otherwise." Raydor and the kids turned to finish buying their cds which was lucky since they then missed the look of shock that covered the squad's faces as they followed them. Sanchez had to laugh at the look on Provenza's face as he took in the fact that the woman that they considered an Ice Queen was actually not all that cold.

Half an hour passed before Raydor finally saw a pretzel stand and dragged Rusty to buy her favorite treat. As everyone else waited for them Provenza gathered the courage to talk to James and Elana.

"You two seem to get along well with her. Doesn't her obsession with the rules make things difficult?"

A pained look passed between the two as they looked at Provenza and tried to figure out how to answer. Finally Elana decided to tell them a story.

"We aren't bothered by her love of the rules because we know where that feeling comes from. You see, a disregard of the rules killed our older brother." This caused a reaction from the squad."You guys didn't know about him did you? Our brother was killed after our father took us to a crime scene that wasn't secured and left us in the car. He had just picked us up from mom's house when he heard about a shootout on the scanner. But a few minutes after he left us in the car the two suspects came running and saw us in the car. They wanted to use us as hostages but Tim wouldn't let them and they shoot him. A couple of police officers came running after that and they shot the suspects before we got hurt. Since there was an officer related shooting mom got called to the scene and saw Tim before taking us away from the scene. Dad broke the rules and got Tim killed so ever since mom has made sure to follow all of the rules. She doesn't want anyone else to have to suffer like she did."

Before anyone could respond to the story Raydor and Rusty came back. The rest of the day passed quickly as the major crimes team thought about Elana's story and how they had misjudged Raydor. Everyone was relieved when the day ended and they could go home. But each and every squad member promised themselves that from now on they would try to be nicer to Raydor. This was lucky for her because soon she would need everyone's support…..


	2. Chapter 2

Behind the Ice Queen part 2

_*the day after the mall_

It was a quiet day at the Major Crimes murder room and it was starting to make Provenza really nervous. He didn't know why but Provenza couldn't help feeling like something was about to go wrong. Looking around at his team mates didn't help him much since everyone, with the exception of Captain Raydor, was enjoying the peaceful feeling. Since Raydor seemed to look a little worried Provenza decided that she was the one he needed to watch. But he didn't have long to wait.

"Well, Well. Look at this office!" A voice suddenly spoke up from behind Provenza. It startled everyone into turning around to see the newcomer. They knew James and Elana from the day before but with them was man in torn blue jeans and a flannel shirt. The blond man grinned at the team as the children just shook their heads.

Just then Raydor came out of her office and stopped in front of the stranger." Anthony, what the hell are you doing in my department"? Raydor's voice was so cold that everyone could feel the warmth in the room go down. It stayed that way until Elana spoke up.

"Um…Hey." She said nervously. "We were just showing dad around the city and he thought it would be a good idea to come see you. We couldn't stop him."

"Ah sweetheart you make it sound like Sharrie wouldn't want to see me! She loves it when I come around, don't you?" Anthony laughed.

The major crimes squad was shocked at the conversation happening in front of them. They couldn't believe that their Raydor would marry an ass like the man in front of them or let him call her by a nickname. Each person on the team was thinking back to the story that Elana told them the day before and they could believe that this man would do something stupid. Provenza couldn't help but wonder what the man was doing here. Elana had made it sound like Raydor didn't like her husband anymore so why was he visiting her. But while Provenza was thinking the Raydors were having a quiet conversation amongst themselves which ended with Raydor throwing her hands up.

"Fine. You can stay and observe for a little while but I don't want to hear a word from you." Finally Raydor turned to the team. "We have a case downtown so Provenza, Buzz, Sykes, and I will be heading up that way. Tao, the cops on the scene have found case files that they shouldn't have so find out what you can about the cases. Sanchez and Fynn can coordinate with the FBI as they apparently are interested in this case as well. Head out guys." Raydor turned back to Anthony. "You stay here and don't do anything. James and Elana will stay with you."

As Raydor passed Anthony an angry looked passed over his face. "You want me to just sit here? Come on Sharrie, you know I can help on your case." But he was talking to thin air since Raydor had already left.

_*a few hours later_

Tao wondered how attached the Captain was to her husband. Now Tao was usually a calm man that took a long time to anger but if he heard one more word about "the great Anthony" and all his amazing arrests the major crimes squad was going to be investigating another murder entirely.

Most of the team had spent the day trying to figure out who had killed three children but so far the only thing that they had were prints that were found on a bottle at the scene. It had already been an hour but so far the computers had not found a match for them. It was then that Rusty turned into the room.

"Hey Tao. How's the day so far?" Rusty asked as he peeked into Raydor's empty office. When he turned Rusty noticed the other three people in the room. At the sight of James and Elana He grinned as he said "Hey guys. I didn't know that you were visiting Sharon today".

Anthony's eyes narrowed at Rusty's use of Raydor's name. "And who are you to be calling her by her first name? Little punk kid trying to pretend that you're someone?".

Needless to say this did not go down well with Rusty. "I'm her ward you moron so why don't you…." Sadly no one got to hear what Anthony should do because Raydor choose that moment to return with the rest of the team. "Watch what you say Rusty. Now what's going on?"

Rusty and Anthony started to talk at the same time so Raydor motioned for both to be quiet. "Tao, will you explain what's going on?"

"Rusty was looking for you and Anthony decided to insult him, Captain" Tao said which earn him a glare from Anthony.

"The kid was lying about being your ward. There's no way that you would take in a street orphan. He'd more than likely try to rape you while you sleep". Anthony looked around for support but ended up looking a group of people that were angry.

"Anthony, why don't you shut up and leave." Looking at the people around Anthony decided that it might be a good idea but he had to have the last word before he left. "Fine but don't whine to me when I turn out to be right about the punk".

With Anthony gone Raydor turned to Rusty. "Have you finished your homework"? Rusty knew that it was pointless to argue with her while she was in a mood so he went into her office. "And you two should go too. Rusty and I will meet you for dinner later". Both of her children nodded as they left.

"Now how are we on the case?" She looked at Tao. The look sent him rushing back to his desk to see about the results. Luckily for him the computer had apparently found results while everyone was watch Anthony.

"Looks like the prints are back. They belong to two people: a Michel Etwards and Nick Strom."

The squad looked back to Raydor and saw that she had gone pale.

"Captain? You alright?" asked Sykes as her and Flynn glanced at each other. Raydor looked really to be sick. "It seems that I will have to remove myself from this case." At the teams look of shock Raydor explained herself. "The two names belong to a case that I was personally involved with. It would be a bad idea for me to continue." Raydor pushed her hair out of her eyes and headed into her office.

"Guys?" Tao said gathering everyone's attention. "I just looked up these names in our database. They came up in the Raydor case that Elana was talking about yesterday."

Flynn raised an eyebrow at that. "And how exactly were they involved. Tao took a moment before answering. "They were the ones that killed her son." "But that's not possible. Elana said that the people that killed her brother were shot that night" Buzz interjected.

"I know. So how do prints from a couple of dead suspects get onto a bottle in case that involves the mother of the suspects victim?"


	3. Chapter 3

Behind the Ice Queen part 3

It had been a long day for the major crimes squad after Raydor withdrew from the case. Each member of the team was trying to focus on the case but so far none of them could get over the fact that their case was quickly becoming intertwined with Raydor's past. Provenza in particular was concerned with how this case was going to affect her but that was not the only thing worrying him.

"Is it just me or is it rather…odd that this case would come to our desks at the same time that Anthony and Raydor's kids are visiting? Would it be bad timing or is there something else going on?"

Tao looked up from his paperwork. "It feels like something else is going on here. Should I look at their backgrounds? It might tell us something."

Provenza thought about it for a moment. "Yes. Look the three of them up. See if their financials match up or if they've had any problems lately that could point to a payoff. Sanchez, didn't you have a friend in the FBI that could help get information on Anthony?"

Sanchez thought for a moment and then he picked up the phone to make some calls. Now that the team had the beginnings of a theory they all went to work digging up information about Raydor's family.

It took a few hours but eventually the team gathered in the murder room to share what information they had about the family. James and Elana turned out to be completely clean but when the team looked over Anthony's information they noticed some problems.

"So this Anthony has been depositing more money into the bank than he is supposed to be earning? Do we have any idea where the extra money is coming from?" asked Provenza.

Sanchez shook his head. "According to my friend Anthony started these deposits almost three months ago. They total up to about eight thousand dollars."

But Flynn wasn't convinced. "But even if the guy has something to do with the case it still leaves questions. Like how would he get the prints of the people that killed his son and why would he plant them at the scene?"

Buzz looked up from his computer. "Maybe he broke into the police mainframe and took the prints. There are ways to copy a print onto a mold that would make it seem like a real print. I've been looking at the prints and they don't seem quite like normal prints."

"Anthony doesn't seem to have a reason to want the files. Maybe he was paid by the person that stole the files. What were in the files that anyone would want?" asked Sykes.

"The files were for a joint case between the FBI and another department here. Apparently they were about a crime ring that killed a police officer. An informant was found that brought down the ring and the files had the name of the informant. That could be the reason that they were stolen. The major players could have paid for the files to be taken so that they could find out who ratted them out" suggested Sanchez.

Provenza frowned in thought and turned to Tao. "Find out if Anthony has any connection to the crime ring."

It took a few minutes but Tao managed to find a connection. "Turns out Anthony have been on a few cases that involve the crime ring. According to the database every case was thrown out because key evidence or witnesses disappear right before the trial. The police couldn't figure out how the ring was getting their information. I also looked into Anthony's finances for each incident and there always seems to be extra cash in his account after the cases end."

That got everyone's attention. Provenza got up from his chair and started towards the door. "Looks like we need to talk with Anthony and find out what he has been doing with…."

But Provenza didn't get the chance to finish because Anthony was standing in the door with a gun pointed towards Rusty.

Anthony didn't give the team a chance to speak. "You guys couldn't just leave the case alone. Now look at what you have forced me to."

Sharon came out of her office and saw Rusty. She started to rush towards him until she saw Anthony's gun. "Anthony, what are you doing? Let him go!"

Anthony just shook his head and grinned at her. "I had a system watching to see if anyone accessed my information. Once you guys were on to me I knew that I had to do something. Since I'm going down anyways I figured that I should do something just for you. You always blamed me for Tim's death so now you can blame yourself for Rusty's."

Anthony's attention to Sharon gave Rusty a chance to break free so while Anthony was talking Rusty elbowed him in the stomach. Rusty got away but when Anthony realized that he had lost his leverage against Sharon he became even angrier. Anthony pointed the gun at Rusty but before he pulled the trigger Sharon dived in front of Rusty. The shot hit her hard enough that she flew into Rusty, knocking him to the ground. The rest of the team had been pulling out their guns and when they saw Raydor go down they shot Anthony. Buzz called for an ambulance while Provenza pulled Raydor off of Rusty. Everyone could see the blood from the wound so Sykes attempted to put pressure on the wound.

When she felt the pressure on her back Raydor's eyes opened. "Rusty?" she whispered. Rusty moved into her line of sight but he was too horrified to speak.

Sharon gave him a small smile before finally going unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

Behind the Ice Queen

It had been a couple of hours since Rusty and the team had gotten to the hospital after the shooting. Sharon was still in surgery and the doctors had yet to tell anyone how she was doing. Rusty was close to having a meltdown when Elana and James finally arrived.

"Where have you guys been? It's been hours since Sharon was shot. Don't you guys care about your mother?"

James opened his mouth to snap back but Elana cut him off. "The police had trouble getting hold of us. We came as soon as we heard about what happened. Have you heard anything about mom?"

Rusty turned away to start pacing again so Provenza answered Elana. "No. The doctor's took her for surgery and we haven't seen anyone that would know about her."

Elana nodded her head but before she could ask any more questions Sharon's doctor came out of the surgery room with a clipboard in his hands. The entire groups rushed over and surrounded him while asking questions at the time. The doctor held up his hand and everyone quieted down to hear what he had to say.

"I know that all of you want to know how she is but before I can tell anyone anything I have to make sure that you are all family." The doctor then proceeded to name off all the people that he could give information to. When everyone's name appeared on the list as family the major crimes squad gave each other confused looks but Rusty was more interested in Sharon than in the list.

The doctor told everyone that Sharon had been shot in the back and the bullet lodged itself very close to her spine. But through some miracle it failed to do any real damage to her organs so Sharon would recover. She had lost a lot of blood though so it would take a few days for her to be able to go home. As the doctor left most of the major crimes squad stood around trying to figure out what to do next.

Elana turned to Rusty once James left. "Who are you staying with tonight? You're more than welcome to stay at the hotel with me if you like. "

But Rusty shook his head. "I'm staying with Provenza until Sharon gets better. Thanks for the offer though."

Provenza and Rusty were heading towards the door when Elana stopped them again. "That reminds me. I brought some home videos that we made with mom so that I could show you how mom was went I was growing up. Would you like to see them?"

The thought of seeing how Sharon acted around her kids made Rusty smile for the first time in hours. "Yeah. I'd like to see the videos. Why don't you meet us at Provenza's house and we can watch them together? " Rusty turned to the major crimes squad. "Do you guys want to watch them too?" Everyone nodded their heads, curious as to what Sharon used to be like.

Elana agreed to this so after getting Provenza's home address she headed back to her hotel to get the videos. While Rusty and Provenza drove to Provenza's house the rest of the squad followed their car.

Once everyone got to Provenza's house they spread out and made themselves comfortable as they waited for Elana. When a knock on the door signaled that it was time for movies everyone gathered in front of the television while Sykes went to let Elana in. Flynn took the movies while Elana sat down and Tao hooked up the VCR.

The first movie that the team watched was of a musical that Sharon had done when she was sixteen. IT shocked everyone to find out that Raydor had a very pretty voice and she wasn't bad dancer ether. So the rest of the night was spent watching a smiling Raydor turn into the woman that they knew because of the emotional abuse from her husband.

After school the next day Rusty and Provenza stopped by the store before going to see Sharon, who had woken up that morning. Rusty wanted to get Sharon something nice to brighten up her hospital room and finally he decided on a daisy arrangement. Once they paid for the flowers Provenza drove Rusty to the hospital and he rushed up to Sharon's room. When they opened the door Rusty stopped in surprise at all the color that he saw. Apparently he was not the only one to get Raydor something as Rusty could see dozens of flowers and teddy bears lining every available surface. While Rusty stared at the objects on the table Sharon turned her head.

"Rusty?" Sharon whispered, still weak from the shooting. Rusty smiled at her and gestured towards the flowers that he was holding.

"Looks like I'm behind the crowd on gifts today. You already have so many flowers I doubt you'd want more." Sharon smiled at him and shook her head.

"Flowers from you are always my favorite. But how did you know I like daisies? I don't think I've ever mentioned that before."

"I didn't know that you liked daisies. They just seemed like the right flowers for you. By the way, did Elana tell you that she showed everyone some of your home movies last night?"

By the look of surprise on her face Rusty figured that Elana had not mentioned it. "You're a pretty good singer you know." Provenza stated, making Sharon jump. He had been blocked from view by the door so she didn't know that he was there.

"Yeah. I'm a good singer if you like nails on a chalkboard." This made all three of them laugh as Rusty set the flowers down and sat next to Sharon. They spent the next three hours laughing and joking until the nurses kicked Rusty and Provenza out of the room.

As they walked to the car Rusty marveled at the thought that an amazing person like Sharon was the one taking care of him. And it honored him more than anything he had ever experience that she had thought that dying for him was worth getting shot.


End file.
